Get back control of your company finances with Professional Services Automation

For small and medium-sized businesses, every dollar counts. More so than enterprise operations, wastefulness can be back-breaking for SMBs. To maintain a healthy bottom line, organizations must have a solid handle on their finances and minimize – if not outright eliminate – any unnecessary spending.

That’s easier said than done without the right tools. Professional services automation solutions can help companies regain control of their finances and transform themselves into the model of financial solvency.

Professional services automation streamlines expense management

One major source of unnecessary spending is employee expenses. Whether you’re visiting with clients in other cities or conducting meetings in satellite offices, business travel is often an unavoidable cost. Although advancements in video conferencing and communication platforms have occasionally obviated the need for in-person meetings, in many instances that personal touch is necessary.

However, many businesses stumble in handling expense management efficiently. The U.S. Travel Association reported that domestic and international travelers combined spent more than $307 billion on business travel in 2016. That figure included travel, accommodations and event and meeting costs.

According to Rocketrip, the average business trip costs $1,068 after accounting for flights, accommodations and other expenses. Why so high? Researchers found that business travelers were often less cost-sensitive than they otherwise might be if they were spending their own money.

With that said, the Rocketrip study revealed that business travelers, on average, actually spent 24 percent less than their allocated budget. Although that may indicate employees are making some attempt to keep their expenses down, it also shows that companies are providing more money than needed for client visits, industry events and other expenditures.

To help cut down on these costs, consider streamlining the expense management process with professional services automation solutions. A 2015 Global Business Travel Association study found that processing one expense report costs businesses $58 and takes 20 minutes to complete on average. Moreover, 19 percent of expense reports contain errors, which cost $52 to correct per instance.

PSA software automates these workflows, reducing the amount of time needed to complete forms and flagging blank or improperly filled out fields. Business travel may not be going anywhere, but you can at least minimize some of its unnecessary associated expenditures.

Business travel can be a major expenditure for companies of all sizes.

Keep billing processes running smoothly

Some professional services firms can be surprisingly lax about their billing workflows. They may delay submitting bills to clients, fail to follow up on outstanding invoices or establish penalties and escalation guidelines for late payments. By doing so, they’re putting their own solvency at risk and hurting their bottom line.

Salesforce recommends implementing automated billing software to speed up the process and reduce the amount of administrative work required to manage everything. Moreover, PSA solutions can help eliminate manual errors and save your staff time otherwise spent drafting invoices and flagging outstanding payments.